PLATFORM 


OF  THE 


REPUBLICAN  PARTY. 


The  following  Platform,  reported  by  the 
Coinmittee  on  Resolutions,  was  unanimously 
adopted  by  the  National  Republican  Conven¬ 
tion  at  Chicago : 

First.  We  congratulate  the  country  on  the 
assured  success  of  the  reconstruction  policy  of 
Congress,  as  evinced  by  the  adoption,  in  a  ma¬ 
jority  of  the  States  lately  in  rebellion,  of  con¬ 
stitutions  securing  equal  civil  and  political 
rights  to  all,  and  regard  it  as  the  duty  of  the 
Government  to  sustain  those  constitutions,  and 
to  prevent  the  people  of  such  States  from  be¬ 
ing  remitted  to  a  state  of  anarchy  or  military 
rule. 

Second.  The  guarantee  by  Congress  of  equal 
suffrage  to  alb  loyal  men  at  the  South  was  de¬ 
manded  by  every  consideration  of  public  safe¬ 
ty,  oi  gratitude,  and  of  justice,  and  must  be 
maintained  ;  while  the  question  of  suffrage  in 
ail  the  loyal  States  properly  belongs  to  the 
people  ot  those  States. 

Third.  We  denounce  all  forms  of  repudia¬ 
tion  as  a  national  crime,  and  national  honor 
requires  the  payment  of  the  public  indebted¬ 
ness  in  the  utmost  good  faith  to  all  creditors 
at  home  and  abroad  not  only  according  to  the 
letter,  but  the  spirit  of  the  laws  under  which 
it  was  contracted. 

Fourth.  It  is  due  to  the  labor  of  the  nation 
that  taxation  should  be  equalized  and  reduced 
afi  rapidly  as  the  national  faith  will  permit. 

Fifth.  The  national  debt,  contracted  as  it 
has  been  for  the  preservation  of  the  Union  for 
all  time  to  come,  should  be  extended  over  a 


fair  period  for  redemption  ,*  and  it  is  the  duty 
of  Congress  to  reduce  the  rate  of  interest 
thereon,  whenever  it  can  honestly  be  done. 

Sixth.  That  the  best  policy  to  diminish  our 
burden  of  debt  is  to  so  improve  our  credit  that 
capitalists  will  seek  to  loan  us  money  at  lower 
rates  of  interest  than  we  now  pay,  and  must 
continue  to  pay  so  long  as  repudiation,  partial 
or  total,  open  or  covert,  is  threatened  or  sus¬ 
pected. 

Seventh.  The  Government  of  the  United 
States  should  be  administered  with  the  strict¬ 
est  economy ;  and  the  corruptions  which  have 
been  so  shamefully  nursed  and  fostered  by  An¬ 
drew  Johnson  call  loudly  for  radical  reform. 

Eighth.  We  profoundly  deplore  the  untime¬ 
ly  and  tragic  death  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  and 
regret  the  accession  of  Andrew  Johnson  to  the 
Presidency  ,  who  has  acted  treacherously  to  the 
people  who  elected  him  and  the  cause  he  was 
pledged  to  support ;  has  usurped  high  legisla¬ 
tive  and  judicial  functions  ;  has  refused  to  exe¬ 
cute  the  laws ;  has  used  his  high  office  to  induce 
other  officers  to  ignore  and  violate  the  laws ; 
has  employed  his  executive  powers  to  render 
insecure  the  property,  peace,  liberty,  and  life 
of  the  citizen ;  has  abused  the  pardoning 
power ;  has  denounced  the  National  Legisla¬ 
ture  as  unconstitutional ;  has  persistently  and 
corruptly  resisted,  by  every  means  in  his 
power,  every  proper  attempt  at  the  reconstruc¬ 
tion  of  the  States  lately  in  rebellion  ;  has  per¬ 
verted  the  public  patronage  into  an  engine  of 
wholesale  corruption,  and  has  been  justly  im¬ 
peached  for  high,  crimes  and  misdemeanors, 


16 


and  properly  pronounced  guilty  thereof  by 
the  votes  of  thirty-five  Senators. 

Ninth.  The  doctrine  of  Great  Britain  and 
other  European  powers,  that  because  a  man  is 
once  a  subject  he  is  always  so,  must  be  resisted 
at  every  hazard  by  the  United  States  as  a  relic 
of  the  feudal  times  not  authorized  by  the  law 
of  nations  and  at  war  with  our  national  honor 
and  independence.  Naturalized  citizens  are 
entitled  to  be  protected  in  all  their  rights  of 
citizenship  as  though  they  were  native  born, 
and  no  citizen  of  the  United  States,  native  or 
naturalized,  must  be  liable  to  arrest  and  im¬ 
prisonment  by  any  foreign  power  for  acts  done 
or  words  spoken  in  this  country.  And  if  so 
arrested  and  imprisoned,  it  is  the  duty  of  the 
Government  to  interfere  in  his  behalf. 

Tenth.  Of  all  who  were  faithful  in  the  trials 
of  the  late  war,  there  were  none  entitled  to 
more  especial  honor  than  the  brave  soldiers 
and  seamen  wrho  endured  the  hardships  of 
campaign  and  cruize,  and  imperiled  their 
lives  in  the  service  of  the  country.  The  boun¬ 
ties  and  pensions  provided  by  law  for  these 
brave  defenders  of  the  nation  are  obligations 
never  to  be  forgotten.  The  widows  and  or¬ 
phans  of  the  gallant  dead  are  the  wards  of  the 
people,  a  sacred  legacy  bequeathed  to  the  na¬ 
tion’s  protecting  care. 

Eleventh.  Foreign  emigration,  which  in  the 
past  has  added  so  much  to  the  wealth,  develop¬ 


ment  of  resources,  and  increase  of  power  of 
this  nation,  “  the  asylum  of  the  oppressed  of  all 
nations,”  should  be  fostered  and  encouraged  by 
a  liberal  and  just  policy. 

Twelfth.  This  Convention  declares  its  sym¬ 
pathy  with  all  the  oppressed  peoples  who  arc 
struggling  for  their  rights. 

On  motion  of  General  Carl  Schurz,  the  fol¬ 
lowing  additional  resolutions  were  unanimous¬ 
ly  adopted  as  part  of  the  platform  : 

Resolved,  That  we  highly  commend  the  spirit 
of  magnanimity  and  forbearance  with  which 
the  men  who  have  served  in  the  rebellion,  but 
now  frankly  and  honestly  cooperate  with  us  in 
restoring  the  peace  of  the  country  and  recon 
structing  the  Southern  State  governments 
upon  the  basis  of  impartial  justice  and  equal 
rights,  are  received  back  into  the  communion 
of  the  loyal  people ;  and  we  favor  the  removal 
of  the  disqualifications  and  restrictions  im¬ 
posed  upon  the  late  rebels  in  the  same  measure 
as  the  spirit  of  disloyalty  will  die  out,  and  as 
may  be  consistent  with  the  safety  of  the  loyal 
people. 

Resolved,  That  we  recognize  the  great  prin¬ 
ciples  laid  down  in  the  immortal  Declaration 
of  Independence  as  the  true  foundation  of  de¬ 
mocratic  government,  and  we  hail  with  glad¬ 
ness  every  effort  toward  making  these  prim 
ciples  a  living  reality  on  every  inch  of  Ameri¬ 
can  soil. 


